With their minimalist designs and intense central foci, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Amish quilts, like the Center Diamond and Center Square (see next image) shared aesthetic qualities with the work of modernist artists including Josef Albers, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, and Mark Rothko. This visual similarity helped create part of the initial appeal of these quilts among art enthusiasts. Although these quilts typically pre-dated the abstract paintings, no evidence suggests that these male artists drew direct inspiration from quilts.